Indigenous broadcaster APTN announced Tuesday its groundbreaking series Taken is returning for a fifth season with 13 new half-hour episodes to highlight the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Canada.
The new season premieres Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 9:30 p.m. ET on APTN (in English) and at 9 p.m. ET on APTN Languages (in Anishinaabemowin), and is available to stream same-day on APTN+ in both languages.
Returning after going on hiatus in 2019 — the same year the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls concluded — Taken encourages viewers to share information about unsolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, men, boys, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse individuals in Canada. Tips can be submitted at takentheseries.com.
Series co-creator Lisa Meeches hosts the English episodes, alongside a production team from Eagle Vision, including executive producer Dinae Robinson. Vera Houle hosts the episodes in Anishinaabemowin. The first episode of Season 5, “The Search Continues”, explores the challenges that still persist.
“When Taken ended after its first four seasons, we had no idea we would be back five years later, continuing to tell the ongoing story of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Canada,” Meeches said in an APTN press release.
The series has re-engaged with Crime Stoppers to facilitate anonymous tips, emphasizing collaboration with families and community organizations, APTN said in its press release.
Bernadette Smith, Manitoba’s minister of housing, addictions and homelessness, has been a strong advocate, sharing her sister Claudette Osborne-Tyo’s story in the first season of the show.
“The way my sister’s case was portrayed in the media was dehumanizing,” Smith said in a statement. “Taken allowed us, as a family, to tell her story from our perspective.”
This season will tell stories from across the country, including that of Deborah Anne Sloss, whose family recounts her tragic death in 1997 in Toronto, and 18-year-old Kendara Ballantyne, murdered in The Pas, Manitoba in 2019. Eleven additional stories illuminate the resilience and grief of families impacted by this crisis, including in the communities of Whitehorse, Yukon; Vancouver and Nanaimo, B.C.; Slave Lake, Alberta; North Battleford, Sask.; Winnipeg, Sagkeeng First Nation and Poplar River First Nation in Manitoba; and St. Mary’s First Nation, N.B.
Advocate Sandra DeLaronde returns as a guest this season. As chair of Giganawenimaanaanig, the group that led engagement sessions to develop Manitoba’s Red Dress Alert Program, she emphasizes the need for urgent action when Indigenous people go missing.
“If mainstream Canada works with us, we can create measurable change,” DeLaronde said in APTN’s press release.
Executive producer Dinae Robinson added: “The goals of this show are to honour those who are missing or have been murdered and to help solve these cases.”
Photo of host Lisa Meeches standing beside image of Kendara Ballantyne, courtesy of APTN and Eagle Vision
